All donations by nongovernment organizations (NGOs) to their affiliates in the Philippines should be cleared first with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
“Over a month ago I fired off a memo to all our European embassies to tell their host governments to clear any and all donations to their NGOs in the Philippines with the DFA. Or we will deregister them in the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission]. If that hasn’t been done do it now,” Locsin said in his tweet, but provided no further details.
The secretary’s outburst came following the Duterte administration’s claims that foreign governments have been providing support to organizations that are allegedly communist fronts.
The Philippine government, through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, has submitted to the EU and the Belgian embassy in the Philippines documents supporting claims that NGOs are being used to funnel funds to the communist movement.
Belgian Ambassador Michel Goffin had also committed to review the documents.
“We are aware of the claim made by the Philippine government. We take this claim seriously and have started immediately investigating the matter, together with the European authorities,” he said in a statement quoted by the Philippine News Agency.
“The funding of nongovernment organizations is subject to strong legal requirements under Belgian law. Should these abuses be established, the Belgian government will not hesitate to stop its support and to seek to recover the amounts already disbursed,” he added.
Some months back the European Union has said an external company will audit EU’s grants to NGOs in the Philippines that were allegedly funneled to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
“The EU now will verify and evaluate these documents. A financial audit by an external company is due to be conducted in April,” the EU Delegation in Manila said in a statement.
The Philippine government on March 28 submitted documents and pieces of evidence to EU Program Manager on Governance Louis Dey and Goffin, asking the two parties to “immediately cease” the release of funds.
The Belgian embassy in Manila said it was taking the claim seriously and had immediately started investigating the matter, together with European authorities.
“The funding of nongovernment organizations is subject to strong legal requirements under Belgian law. Should these abuses be established, the Belgian government will not hesitate to stop its support and to seek to recover the amounts already disbursed,” Goffin said in a statement.
The bloc underscored that CPP and the NPA were recognized by the EU as terrorist groups, which means that no asset could be held in EU by these organizations.